Dark Memories
by GenericX
Summary: Another look at Terra's life after she joins the Titans, including her ongoing struggle to gain control of her powers. Pairings: BBT, maybe some RS later on.


Hey, I'd like to welcome ya to my new fic. :) I think I need a break from the other one since I kinda ran out of ideas for the new chapters. Anyways, this fic is pretty much about Terra's life after she joins the Titans while struggling with her powers. For the sake of this fic, assume that Robin kept his mouth shut at the end of "Terra" and therefore our favorite geomancer is now part of the Titans. :) Aight? Great, thanks.

Oh by the way, this story has nothing to do with my other one, so don't think that there is any correlation between the two. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans.

**Dark Memories**

Chapter 1: A Failed Attempt

* * *

Her days of wandering the Earth were long over. She now had a comfortable bed, a place to stay, and caring friends. Yeah, it was great indeed to finally feel accepted. Life for Terra Markov had definitely improved since her first encounter with the renown Teen Titans five months ago.

However, there was only one thing that still haunted her during the many moonless nights: she couldn't control her powers no matter what. She was very tenacious in her training with the other Titans, but something just wouldn't snap. Something was still restraining her from being able to grasp her full potential. But what was it? Every night she lay awake in her room trying to conjure up an answer, though it was all for naught.

"It is so easy," Terra whispered to herself, staring up at her ceiling, "What is wrong with me? I can't even control a damn rock for two minutes." Similar thoughts filled her mind, making the geomancer feel hopeless.

Terra sighed and looked over at her clock. It flashed four in the morning. With another sigh escaping her lips, she rolled over on her bed and snuggled under the covers, but sleep wouldn't come easy. This was starting to get very repetitive.

Regardless of what she was telling herself, she remembered Beastboy's words many days ago. Even if she couldn't quite control her powers, no one would shun her away just because of that one fault. This comforted the teen ever so slightly, but there was no reason to worry; tomorrow is another day to try again.

Terra's eyelids slowly closed, granting her some much wanted sleep.

* * *

Golden morning sunlight filled Terra's room, casting away the fears that kept her awake most of the night. Her alarm went off at exactly eight, signaling the beginning of another day. With much hesitation, Terra slowly dragged herself out of bed, mentally telling herself to go to sleep at an earlier time tonight.

Down in the common room, Beastboy was cooking up some tofu recipe that he claimed would wake the team right up. Cyborg, as usual, was already up and glued to the large screen TV playing his treasured video games. Raven was meditating on the roof of the Tower, threating to barbecue anyone who disturbed her. Starfire and Robin were sitting on the couch, chatting with each other while watching Cyborg breeze right through his fourth opponent.

"Breakfast's ready!" Beastboy exclaimed out of nowhere, causing the three other Titans who were in earshot to flock unwillingly to fetch their food. Cyborg down right refused, knowing that the changeling's cooking might cause his stomach to twist in various directions.

"Cy, put down that controller and go get Raven and Terra," Robin said, secretly setting aside his bowl of tofu porridge. The mechanical teen gave Robin an annoyed look and disappeared in a second, heading to the upper levels of the Tower.

Cyborg hummed a tune which walking through the hallways. He stopped by Terra's room, which was along the way, and knocked on her door. "Yo Terra, breakfast's up for grabs!"

"I'll be there in a second," Terra replied from within her room. Cyborg then held his breath and prayed as he headed up to get Raven, hoping she wouldn't get too angered by his intrusion.

A few moments after, Terra appeared in the hallway, just in time to see Raven chase Cyborg right past her room. The blonde geomancer simply shook her head in amusement and proceeded down to the common room. Upon her arrival, she cringed at the smell in the air of tofu mixed with other various incompatible things.

Beastboy immediately zoomed over to her with a bowl of bubbling tofu porridge. "This stuff is guaranteed to wake you right up!" Beastboy repeated with a cheery face, causing Terra to smile in return.

"Um, thanks," she said, not knowing what else Beastboy managed to mix with the porridge. As soon as the shape shifter turned his back, she quickly dumped the contents of the bowl into a nearby plant and went ahead to grab an apple from the kitchen.

Overall, breakfast, for the the people who actually ate it, was rather uneventful. After the team's speedy meal, Robin decided to jump right into training. He was especially mindful to give Terra extra practice considering her difficulties. The Boy Wonder announced that the team would be practicing on their obstacle course to hone their skills first.

Upon their arrival at the obstacle course adjacent to the tower, everyone, with the exception of Cyborg and Robin, was rather surprised to see that it was extended with more traps and the works. "So... what do ya'll think?" the mechanical teen asked, taking pride in his lengthy work on the course.

"I asked Cyborg," Robin said, "to improve the course so this way all of us will have a challenge." Indeed, the course now included much more perils than its predecessor. Hidden spikes in the ground, invisible electrical beams, and more powerful laser guns were only a few of the newcomers to the Titans' main source of training.

Terra remembered this course, only slightly simpler, when she first came to the Tower, but much has changed since then. Terra was able to overcome this type of course with less and less mistakes each time. She trained on a regular basis with the guidance of Robin and encouragement from Beastboy. Now it was time to see whether or not her training had paid off. The young geomancer volunteered to go first when the Boy Wonder asked.

There was a gentle breeze in the air, which significantly calmed Terra down, though she wasn't anxious too much initially. She stood ready at the starting line, waiting patiently for the signal to begin. However, her confidence was questioned when all sorts of random thoughts started engulfing her mind. 'You can't screw up now,' or 'Did I waste my time training?' scrolled across her mind, though she quickly withdrew the cryptic messages and focused on the task at hand.

"Three, two, one, GO!" Robin hollered out after the countdown completed. Terra wasted no time in summoning an initial rock for her to fly on. Her first obstacle consisted of simple laser guns that she avoided with ease. Terra worked her way fluently through the next section of tightly knit electric beams and the following pits containing steel spikes.

'I got this in the bag,' Terra thought, with only a few easy obstacles remaining. Just as she got to her last challenge, the amped up laser guns that fired about ten shots per second each, Terra's confidence drained out of her like water. The laser guns somehow brought back dark memories of her past life which filled every portion of her brain, reminding her of the horrors that people claimed she was responsible for. Concentrating on the beams of red that flew at her in every direction was near impossible, and as a result Terra was preforming rather clumsily. The thousands of people that died as a direct consequence of her accidental actions in the past seemed to come back from the dead and haunt her. Seeing tons of corpses on the streets, buildings split in two, and police swarming the cities were some of those particular memories that Terra wished would just disappear into thin air, never to plague her again. But her hopes weren't successful.

"Terra, watch out!" Beastboy yelled from the sidelines, seeing that a group of laser beams was heading right at her and she didn't seem to notice.

She snapped out of her reverie at the sound of Beastboy's voice, but it was too late. The beams collided with her boulder, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces of rock. Terra was sent flying into the ground as a result, but was caught by Beastboy just before she made contact.

"Um, are you alright?" Beastboy asked the girl in his arms, noting that she wasn't really herself today.

Terra immediately hopped to her feet, blushing very slightly. "Yeah I'm fine," she replied, the rest of the Titans curious as to why she didn't avoid the easy gunfire, "I just need to take a break from all this training cause it's been kinda tiring on me lately. I'm sorry." Without another word, Terra slowly made her way back to the Tower, leaving the rest of the Titans clueless, but they were oblivious as to her real motives.

"We should let her rest," Starfire finally said, breaking the awkward silence, "After all, training for this many months in a row can really make one tired."

"Maybe I should go check if everything is fine," Beastboy said with worry in his voice. Considering that his turn for the obstacle course wasn't near yet, Robin let him go seek out Terra for the time being. Beastboy ran off to the Tower with unreal speed after the Boy Wonder permitted him to do so. The rest of the team returned to their regular training.

* * *

(In the Tower common room)

"Goddamn it!" Terra yelled out in frustration, pounding her fist into the sofa. She was so close to completing the course, but once again she failed. The other Titans wouldn't make a big deal out of just missing the last obstacle, but Terra was reaching her limit. Over and over and over again she tried, yet her efforts were futile most of the time. This applied to the battles with Jump City's villains, which actually made her feel worse.

Beastboy, who happened to overhear the blonde teen yell, walked cautiously to her. "Uh, is everything alright, Terra?" the changeling asked in his caring voice, hoping to relieve some of her feelings.

Terra jumped slightly at the sound of Beastboy's voice. She tried her best to put on a fake smile, but Beastboy wasn't going to fall for it. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a bit angry that I messed up."

The shape shifter knew that this wasn't the entire cause. He sat down on the sofa next to her, showing that this probably was a serious situation. "Terra, I know it's more than _that_. You practically cried last time you didn't do something right." Terra, having nothing to say, looked miserably down at the floor. "You don't have to tell me exactly what it is right now, but once you decide that you want to, then I'll be there for ya." He took her hand in his, causing both of them to blush like mad.

"Thanks BB, maybe I just need some time," Terra replied, her mood improving significantly. This is one of the many things that she cherished about the shape shifter: his dual personality. Sure he was funny, but when also serious when the time was appropriate. "Listen, I..." Terra never got to finish her sentence as the all too familiar red alarms blasted through the Tower, signaling that trouble was afoot somewhere.

Robin and the others put their training on hold, running inside to check on the situation. Beastboy and Terra in the meantime joined the rest of the team, eager to find out who was plaguing the city this time. The Boy Wonder quickly typed something into the Titan's main computer, bringing up a picture of Control Freak on the large screen.

"Got reports of Control Freak causing trouble around in the electronics store," Robin said, "We gotta stop em before he gets away with another crime." Robin here was referring to another time not too long ago when Control Freak wrecked havoc on Jump City, managing to escape into safety before the Titans could stop him.

Raven gave Terra a slightly dark look, "I think you should take a breather from this one," the dark witch said, "Considering your little, uh, mishap during training."

"Chill Rae," Cyborg said, "We all screw up once in awhile." Terra sensed a bit of foreboding, but staying behind was not an option in her opinion.

Robin drew attention back to current situation, "_Anyway_, there is no time to spare. Titans, go!" Upon the Boy Wonder's trademark command, the Titans rushed to the scene of the crime.

* * *

(Jump City Electronics)

Control Freak, along with his highly modified remote, was tampering with the various devices in the store. In the time before the Titans could arrive, he managed to bring a few plasma television screens to life as well as assembling a small group of possessed appliances. As of now, he and his small army of electronic products was about to unleash widespread panic throughout the city.

"Muhahaha! That's right, run you little fools!" Control Freak mocked the people attempting to flee the store, only to have their progress halted by another living appliance.

His laughter soon subsided as the Titans entered the scene. "Alright Control Freak, time to bring you in." Robin said, looking menacingly at the nerdy villain.

His words were ignored, however, as Control Freak regrouped his entire army. "Oh I don't think so Titans!" Control Freak said enthusiastically, "You couldn't catch me last time, and you can't catch me now!" With that, Control Freak commanded his electronics to attack.

Just in case things went wrong, Control Freak decided to keep the majority of his forces out of battle, simply sending only one unit out to each Titan. Robin was faced with a large plasma television screen, complete with loose cords that seemed to be overloaded with electricity. For the Boy Wonder, this poor excuse for an enemy was a cakewalk. The television screen growled fiercely, trying to daunt its foe, and charged with its electrical cords extended. Nimbly dodging the cords, Robin retaliated with his staff, swinging it in a vertical fashion. His aim was true, hitting the screen right in the center which caused the entire thing to become wildly dazed. Taking this opportunity seriously, Robin finished the deranged television off by means of explosive disks.

"That was almost _too_ easy," Robin commented, sparing a glance at his friends and their progress. Raven was about to blow up a possessed cash register into pieces with her dark magic and Starfire was pelting some amplifiers with starbolts. Beastboy just destroyed a few evil electric guitars in dinosaur form, but Terra seemed to be rather struggling.

Terra was trying her best to crush a pair of large computer towers, both of which were flinging CD's with extreme precision at her non-stop. She summoned two rocks, with slight hesitance, and chucked them at her targets. By pure luck, both projectiles made contact with the computers, smashing them to pieces. Terra gave a sigh of relief, having managed another battle, though easy it was, without losing control.

The Titans refocused their attention to Control Freak, who stood rather dumbfounded. "I guess I made your job easy for you," he said, hinting a backup plan already formulated in his mind. Without any more warning, Control Freak threw a few round objects to the floor which exploded on contact, emitting a thick smoke that overtook the room. The Titans were caught in the cloud and lost sight of their target. It wasn't too long until the smoke cleared out enough for the Titans to regain a decent view of the store. To their shock, the Titans saw a huge hole in the wall where Control Freak once stood.

"See ya later!" Control Freak hollered from the other side, he and his army making a run for the city.

Robin was infuriated, "Titans, catch that idiot!" The Titans didn't need anymore convincing as they all started after their foe. Due to Control Freak's rather poor state of fitness, the Titans easily came within firing distance of the escaping criminal.

"I'll take care of him," Raven said in her classic monotone voice, using her powers to surround Control Freak and his small militia.

"No, it's ok!" Terra quickly said, "I got it!" With that, she used her powers to hastily dig up a bunch of earth from the path directly in front of Control Freak. This formed a pit about twenty feet deep and thirty feet in length and width. Her intentions were good, but her plan backfired. Instead of falling into the pit like Terra hoped, Control Freak sprinted to the top the newly dug up earth which now lay nearby. The Titans also changed their course, heading near the mound on which the criminal stood with his army of electronics.

"Ha ha! Got ya Titans!" Control Freak yelled in laughter once the Titans were adjacent to the mound. One of the electronics, which happened to be a huge stereo, blasted loud rock music on Control Freak's command with unreal levels of volume never achieved before. The initial blasted caused the large mound of earth to become unstable, creating a miniature landslide that engulfed the Titans. Control Freak and his group of appliances gave one more laugh at the defeated Titans and sprinted off to downtown.

Terra used her earth moving abilities to promptly remove the massive amount of dirt that was all over her and the other Titans.

"And Control Freak just got away, _again_. All thanks to you," Raven said in a frustrated voice, placing her blame solely on the young geomancer. Everyone, with the exception of Starfire and Beastboy, looked at Terra with annoyed faces.

"Look, I'm so sorry, I didn't..." Terra started to apologize, but instead was cutoff by Robin.

"We'll talk about this later," Robin said, quite frankly ticked off, "Right now we gotta get Control Freak!" Upon the Boy Wonder's command, the Titans sped off to capture the runaway fugitive.

Terra sighed, joining in the chase a moment later, "I messed up again..."

* * *

And there was chapter 1. :) Hopefully now I can work on both stories without running out of ideas for each. XD

Please R&R, thanks in advance. More to come.


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